Russia's Tamara Tansykkuzhina faced Poland's Natalia Sadowska in the fourth round of the final, which was delayed from 2020 to 2021.

Russians are required to compete at World Championships as neutral athletes at events run by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) signatories due to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision in the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) case.

As a WADA signatory, the FMJD are required to abide by the CAS ruling.

Polish official Jacek Pawlicki removed the Russian flag during the game, due to it being visible on a live stream.

The removal of the flag was blamed for disrupting Tansykkuzhina’s concentration, leading to her making an error which caused her to lose the game.

Sadowska had removed her flag in solidarity with her opponent.

The FMJD apologised for the controversy caused by the flag’s removal.

"Prior to the match the FMJD requested the organisers in Poland to comply with the WADA demands following the RUSADA case," a FMJD statement read.

"Despite a lot of efforts by the organisation, there were apparently some leftovers that were not taken care of.

"The office of Mr. Banka, director of WADA demanded by phone to the organisers on Tuesday afternoon (April 27) that a Russian flag visible on the table in the live stream should be removed without any delay.

"When asked whether that could be done after the game was being played WADA still demanded that immediate action was taken or heavy repercussions would fall upon FMJD.

"For a small federation such as FMJD, it left us no choice and Mr. Pawlicki, organiser and former FMJD Board member, removed the flag,

"This caused a psychological shock with the player from Bashkortostan (Russia) and she lost the game through a blunder," the FMJD continued.

"FMJD would have wished to stay out of the conflict between WADA and RUSADA causing so much anger with sportsmen and women all over Russia.

"Unfortunately, we had no choice and we very much regret that this issue was blown up to such large proportions."

The WADA said the organisation had contacted the FMJD prior to the World Championships to remind the organisation of their responsibility to implement the CAS decision.

The anti-doping watchdog said it had noticed that action had not been taken by the FMJD, which led to further communication with the organiser.

A WADA spokesperson said the organisation had not requested the flags be removed mid-match.

"All Signatories to the World Anti-Doping Code, including the FMJD, are bound by the terms of the CAS decision of December 2020 to declare the Russian Anti-Doping Agency non-compliant with the Code and impose a range of associated consequences," a WADA spokesperson said.

"The WADA, in line with its monitoring role, is collaborating with all International Federations – including the FMJD as the governing body for draughts – to remind them of their responsibilities to implement the CAS decision and its consequences, including in relation to the displaying of the Russian flag during World Championship events. 

"Having noticed that the CAS decision was not being implemented correctly at the FMJD Women's World Title match, WADA made contact with the FMJD on Thursday 22 April to request that non-conformities were corrected as soon as possible. 

"Despite this, remedial action was not taken by the FMJD and further communication with the federation and the host organiser of the event proved necessary before the CAS decision was implemented satisfactorily. 

"WADA did not intend and did not ask for the flags to be removed during a match. 

"The manner in which they were removed is not a question for WADA. 

"WADA's sole intention was to ensure the correct implementation of the CAS decision, which clearly should have been carried out by the FMJD prior to the start of the event."

The World Championship match will continue in Poland until May 3.

Six matches have been completed to date with Sadowska holding a 39-33 advantage in the contest.